{"id":1247,"date":"2019-06-13T09:17:11","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T07:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vm-int.de\/?page_id=1247"},"modified":"2019-06-17T08:31:13","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T06:31:13","slug":"unser-dienstverstaendnis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vm-international.de\/en\/unser-dienstverstaendnis\/","title":{"rendered":"Our ministry philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our ministry philosophy<\/h1>\n

The AEM (Association of Evangelical Missions), of which we as VM-International are a member, has articulated very well how we understand and live out mission. We align ourselves with this understanding of mission:<\/p>\n

Mission (Latin: missio) means the sending of Christians into the world\u2014both locally and globally<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

God Himself sends:<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth 2,000 years ago; God the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit upon all followers of Jesus; and God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit send all Christians into the world to bless people and nations. The whole church is called to participate in God\u2019s mission (Latin: missio Dei) and to be a bearer of His blessing.\n\nThis sending flows directly from the very nature of God: He acts in the world, reveals His glory (Isaiah 66:19), calls people into fellowship with Himself, saves, transforms lives, and commissions them for service. Therefore, it is rightly called God\u2019s mission. At the center of the mission mandate stands God\u2014not humanity with its needs, religious longings, or even obedience to a (divine) command.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

Missionaries are ambassadors of the good news<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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Christians understand themselves as ambassadors (Latin: missionaries) of the good news of Jesus Christ, inviting others\u2014through their lives, words, and actions, in creative and relevant ways\u2014into a personal encounter with the living God. Christians consider it a fundamental right that every person should have the opportunity to hear the gospel. How a person responds to this message is left to their own free choice.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

Those who have received give<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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Christians understand themselves as people who have been generously blessed by God and who want to share this personal experience with others. It is an expression of their joy in God, their enthusiasm, and their gratitude. They also seek to help those in need selflessly and without ulterior motives, because they see every person as created in the image of God\u2014therefore of infinite value and endowed with profound dignity.\n\nFor this reason, they treat others with great respect and accept their way of life and personal convictions, whatever they may be. Following the example of Jesus, they firmly reject any form of coercion or pressure.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

Mission in the power of the Holy Spirit<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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The Holy Spirit is the driving force of mission. He opens doors, convicts people of their separation from God, and encourages intercession. He empowers the church and the ambassadors of Jesus for committed service in the world.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

Jesus Christ, the way to salvation<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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Christians understand Jesus Christ as the full revelation of God and the way to salvation\u2014as the risen and returning Lord, the Savior and Judge of the world. They are convinced that God has also revealed Himself in nature and in the human conscience. Therefore, they recognize traces of true insight in other religions, though these do not lead to salvation. For this reason, they seek respectful dialogue with followers of other religions. However, such dialogue cannot replace the call to repentance and faith in Christ.\n\nChristians do not possess the truth; rather, the truth has taken hold of them. They are on a journey with Jesus\u2014remaining lifelong learners, open to new insights and guidance.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

A mission for the whole church<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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This mandate applies to the whole church of Jesus, with local congregations carrying primary responsibility. Mission organizations are intended to be an extension of the church. Without the church, there is no mission\u2014and without mission, there is no church. Church planting in other cultures should not create \u201cbranches\u201d of the sending church, but rather communities that live out the gospel in ways that are appropriate to their cultural context.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

Salvation, not just healing<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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Christians see humanity\u2019s turning away from God, its Creator, as the root problem of the world\u2014manifesting itself in personal selfishness, the pursuit of power, exploitation, war, and environmental destruction. Therefore, they do not see a lasting solution in social, economic, or political change\u2014these would only address the symptoms\u2014but in deep reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. Christians confess that they know of no one else capable of this except Jesus Christ. That is why they call Him the Savior of the world.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

A message for all cultures<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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Christians see this fundamental problem in people of every culture; therefore, they seek to make the good news of Jesus Christ known everywhere. This begins in traditionally Christian countries, where materialism and increasing secularization have led to a loss of familiarity with the gospel and a need for spiritual renewal. It continues in countries where local churches request external expertise and invite missionaries. There, they work in partnership, offering their professional skills under local leadership\u2014being recognized both as missionaries and as skilled professionals.\n\nThe message of Jesus Christ also applies to cultures where no Christian church has yet been established. They, too, have the right to hear the gospel and to make an informed decision.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

The human right to hear and share the gospel<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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Christians firmly stand up for people and for universal human rights. This explicitly includes the right to practice one\u2019s religion (or worldview) both privately and publicly, to share it with others (mission), and to change one\u2019s religion voluntarily (freedom of religion). All proclamation must be carried out in a respectful manner, and no pressure may be applied.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

Proclaiming in word and deed<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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Christian communities have a social responsibility toward society; helping the poor and the oppressed is an expression of God\u2019s love for humanity. Therefore, social action is a natural part of lived Christianity and cannot be separated from the mission mandate. Reconciliation with God leads to reconciliation between people, and a new life shaped by God results in a committed stand for justice and peace.\n\nAmbassadors of Jesus carefully analyze the society in which they serve in order to understand its structures, values, and needs, and to communicate the message of God\u2019s love in an appropriate way. They seek not only to proclaim the gospel but also to live it. God\u2019s love is meant to become visible. This involves humbly seeking access to people and identifying, as far as possible, with their social reality and suffering. Such a calling cannot be fulfilled without personal sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

So that everyone may experience the healing power of the gospel<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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Ambassadors of Jesus will do everything they can to draw close to people in their host culture. They accept them as they are and seek to learn from them. All cultures\u2014including our Western culture\u2014are unique and valuable, yet shaped by human beings and therefore also affected by destructive elements. In every culture, there are aspects that burden, oppress, or even destroy people. To label the overcoming of such oppression as destructive to culture would in fact legitimize that oppression.\n\nThe gospel is meant to enrich, inspire, and bring life to a culture, while decisions must ultimately be made by the people of that culture themselves, not by an outsider. In this sense, Christian mission actively seeks to preserve culture. Many cultures and languages might no longer exist today without the tireless work of missionaries, particularly in the fields of linguistics, medicine, and ethnology. Through the gospel, people of different cultures, skin colors, and languages come to understand themselves as part of one global humanity.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

In global dialogue<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h4><\/div>
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The gospel is not a Western religion but originated in the East. Christians confess that the almighty God revealed Himself in the history of Israel, and that this good news spread through Turkey into Europe. In regions such as present-day Iraq, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Ethiopia, Yemen, and India, strong churches emerged early on\u2014long before the Germanic peoples ever heard the gospel. For the first 1,000 years, Europeans (and certainly North Americans) were a small minority among Christians, and in recent times this has again become the case.\n\nWhile de-Christianization is advancing in the \u201cChristian West,\u201d churches in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are growing rapidly. Today, two-thirds of Christians have brown, black, or Asian backgrounds. Christianity is now largely shaped by the Global South (the \u201ctwo-thirds world\u201d). This is also true for mission: the majority of evangelical missionaries today come from countries such as India, Korea, the Philippines, Brazil, and Nigeria\u2014no longer primarily from North America or Europe. They live out their spirituality in both word and deed.\n\nThere is much we can learn from one another, and we can support each other in training workers and developing new forms of church. Mission today is from everywhere to everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Source: www.aem.de\/verband\/missionsverstaendnis<\/span>
\nBy kind permission of AEM e.V.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unser Dienstverst\u00e4ndnis Wie wir Mission verstehen und leben, hat die AEM (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Evangelikaler Mission), der wir als VM-International angeh\u00f6ren, sehr [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1247","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vm-international.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vm-international.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vm-international.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vm-international.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vm-international.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1247"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/vm-international.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1256,"href":"https:\/\/vm-international.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1247\/revisions\/1256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vm-international.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}